There is a need for systems which can be used to provide services to users connected to data communication networks. Services may include things such as video-on-demand, audio-on-demand, on-line games and amusements, or Internet access, which are provided by a service provider, to subscribers who are connected to a data communications network.
The currently accepted approach to setting up the network connections needed to provide such services is tedious, requires technically skilled personnel and is susceptible to errors. First, the physical port to which the subscriber is attached to the network must be identified. Next, the service's connection requirements, including bandwidth, must be studied to determine what sort of connection is needed. Appropriate connections from one or more of the service provider's servers to the subscriber's physical port can then be established. The connections must be monitored for billing purposes and billing information must be accumulated and associated with the subscriber.
Existing network management tools such as the MainStreetXpress™ 46020™ network manager available from Newbridge Networks Corporation of Kanata, Ontario, Canada provide for the centralized management of network connections but operate at a low level. Such management tools allow an operator to configure network nodes, cards and modules and manage links and paths throughout a network from a single location. The operator must still, however, have reasonably advanced technical knowledge of the network and must manipulate physical port addresses and other similarly low level information to set up a service for a subscriber.
Another problem with existing network management tools is that they track network statistics in a manner which provides the information necessary to make “wholesale” sales of network bandwidth but do not provide sufficient information to conveniently bill on a selective basis for particular services provided over the network. The inability of existing network management systems to collect the information necessary to bill for individual services has provided an obstacle to the deployment of such services by network providers.